Dictionary

LITANY OF THE HOLY NAME

Invocations expressing various attributes of the Savior, with a petition for mercy repeated after each invocation. Of unknown origin, it has been commonly ascribed to St. Bernardino of Siena and St. John Capistran, zealous preachers of devotion to the Holy Name in their day. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V granted an indulgence for its private recitation. In 1862, Pope pius IX approved it for any diocese whose bishop requested the litany, and in 1886, Pope Leo XIII extended its use to the universal Church, because of the growing devotion to the Holy Name throughout the world.